UAE set to join league of five na­tions

The UAE will soon be among a hand­ful of na­tions across the world with a fe­male rep­re­sen­ta­tion of 50 per cent or more in the par­lia­ment as the UAE Fed­eral Na­tional Coun­cil (FNC) will soon have half of the seats re­served for women.

The FNC cur­rently has eight women in the 40-mem­ber house, mak­ing up 22.5 per cent, rank­ing 79th glob­ally in terms of women’s rep­re­sen­ta­tion, ac­cord­ing to the In­terPar­lia­men­tary Union (IPU). How­ever, this will change when the pres­i­den­tial de­cree comes into ef­fect, pro­pel­ling the UAE among the top five na­tions with fe­male rep­re­sen­ta­tion of 50 per cent or more in par­lia­ment. Cur­rently four coun­tries have a fe­male rep­re­sen­ta­tion of more than 50 per cent in their par­lia­ments, with Rwanda rank­ing first at 61.3 per cent, Cuba with 53.2 per cent and Bo­livia 53.1 per cent. Mex­ico with 48.2 per cent is cur­rently in fourth po­si­tion and is set to be dis­placed by the UAE once the new de­cree takes ef­fect.